By Scott Travis |South Florida Sun-Sentinel

January 18, 2008

BOCA RATON - They clashed over immigration, health care and the war in Iraq. They accused their opponents of flip-flopping on major issues.

If it sounds like a presidential debate, well, that was exactly the point.

Members of Florida Atlantic University's College Republicans and College Democrats shared the stage Thursday night for a mock debate. It was one of the highlights in a weeklong series of events at FAU gearing up for the real presidential debates, which start next week.

FAU will host a Republican debate next Thursday. The Democrats have been invited to attend one Jan. 27 but could be no-shows because of their concerns over Florida's early primaries, which will be Jan. 29.

Both parties were equally represented at the mock debate. College Democrats represented Barack Obama, John Edwards, Hillary Clinton and Dennis Kucinich. College Republicans played the roles of Rudy Giuliani, Mike Huckabee, Fred Thompson and John McCain. Despite winning the Michigan primary, Mitt Romney was not represented in the student debate.

State Rep. Maria Sachs, D-Delray Beach, served as moderator, asking the students questions on many of the hot-button issues in this year's election.

She asked Pablo Best, who represented Clinton, whether the candidate supports giving in-state tuition to students who grew up in the United States but were not born here. Best voiced support for the Dream Act, which makes college affordable for those students.

"There are many students whose parents brought them here. They spent all of their life in America," he said. "With the Dream Act, they will be able to continue their education and go to college."

But Joe Adams, playing Huckabee, questioned Clinton's true stance on undocumented immigrants. Clinton has voiced support for building a border wall to make it tougher for Mexican immigrants to come here.

"This is so typical of Sen. Clinton, flip-flopping to please people on both sides of the aisle," Adams said.

Of course, no presidential debate would be complete without partisan bickering over the Iraq war.

"We haven't been able to come to a political solution in Iraq by increasing our troops," said Christopher Scott, who played Obama. "We're only threatening the lives of more Americans."

But the troops don't support Obama's argument, argued Kris O'Brien, who played McCain.

"I spent Thanksgiving with our troops in Iraq. They said, 'Let us win,'" O'Brien said. "I would favor a greater surge in Iraq. I think we need to finish this conflict and finish it right."

The students also debated health care, abortion, same-sex marriage and other polarizing issues. They had a good idea of what topics would be asked but didn't know the exact questions. The Palm Beach County Democratic and Republican parties provided materials to help the students prepare.

Abe Cohen, vice president of the FAU student body, said he sees this event as part of an effort to get students excited about this year's election.

"This year, students are definitely going to make a difference," he said. "There is a high awareness of the presidential candidates on campus, and a lot of students are promoting individual candidates."

The debate earned the students a standing ovation from about 100 people attending. In addition to students, the audience included legislators, county commissioners and other elected officials.